Native Welfare Council

The Native Welfare Council was formed in 1952 at the request of
the Western Australian Minister for Native Affairs. At the time, a
number of bodies representing Aboriginal interests existed in Perth
and both the Minister and these bodies could see the value of
having one council to negotiate with government. One of the
drawbacks of this body, however, was that by the end of the 1950s
when other state bodies were more adversarial in approaching
governments, the Western Australian Council already had an
entrenched culture of working with the government rather than being
critical of it. Sixteen bodies were represented at the first
meeting. Cyril Gare was, for many years, the chairman of the
Council. The Council affiliated with the Federal Council for
Aboriginal Advancement in 1958 but its membership of this parent
body was sporadic.

For many years the Native Welfare Council ran the Allawah Grove
Project, a community-organised scheme which provided services such
as a kindergarten for Aboriginal children and encouraged social and
economic initiatives among the adults. Later, the Native Welfare
Council worked for the building of an Aboriginal centre in
Perth.